Raised Relief

Unburdened at least

Even if it was a psycho-spiritual shell game designed to reinforce the Church’s symbolic dominion over my individual salvation, going to confession did offer an opportunity to periodically re

Stop Calling Me Surly

A victory for empathy

Now that the game is over, let not the larger lessons be lost amid the shouting. Obama won partly because he showed the electorate more empathy than did Mitt Romney.

Fables of the Deconstruction

Wrong piano

“Fables of the Deconstruction” is taped in front of a live audience.

Scene one. The Old Watering Hole. Paul is standing at the bar talking to Lyle.

Summary of My Discontent

Celebrating a president

By now you either know who won the election or you are savoring the spectacle of a constitutional crisis of chad-hanging proportions.

Raised Relief

This don’t feel like a party

I voted for Ralph Nader in each of the last three election cycles, and I’m unrepentant.

Stop Calling Me Surly

Stop raping my brain

With a scant week remaining till Decision ’12, I’m poised to declare some winners and wieners. Political comedians and critics deserve le grand prix.

Fables of the Deconstruction

I’m set free

The man with no face invited me into a hall of mirrors. Some of them weren’t mirrors. They were doors. Some had curtains. I can’t remember it very clearly. It was dark.

Keeping Up with the Jones

The truth about obstructionism

Less than two years into his presidency, a memo from a Democratic party official warned the president that he should be prepared to deal with daunting Republican opposition after they gained contro

Summary of My Discontent

Reaching the undecided voters

My fellow Americans, it’s been a long and grueling campaign. I’ve debated my worthy opponent on the issues.

Raised Relief

Start making sense

A few weeks back, in a prematurely old man-esque bid to stay in touch with “what the kids are listening to these days,” I followed the “Hot Video Pick of the Week” link on Y